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ADDRESS 



OF THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

ON THE 

ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY 

OF THE BIRTH OF 

GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT 

AT 

Point Pleasant, Ohio 
April 27, 1922 



2t^iU^ ^^ 




WASHINGTON 

1922 







klBlWRY OF CONoSiS*"" 

APR 291922 






^ ADDRESS. 



My CouNTitv.MKN : The military hero of the Kepublic; a commiinfl- 
ing figure in the military history of the Avorld; the surpassing ex- 
emplar of magnanimity of all times; the most striking example of 
the possibilities in American life; the confident and relentless com- 
mander in war, and the modest and sympathetic petitioner for peace 
after victory ! 

All of these may be said, most befittingly, of the great American 
Avhose hundredth birthday anniversary we are met to commemorate, 
to whose undying fame we add fresh tribute of memory to-day. 

In that inevitable contemplation incident to the preparation of an 
address for this occasion, I have pondered again and again, what 
distinction, or what attribute, or better, what attribute and achieve- 
ment, of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant appeals to me most. He looms 
majestic in the blend of them all — his fame is secure. 

One must revere his military genius, even though its development 
was one of those miracles of grim war itself. Xo one would have 
picked him in youth or early manhood, or in his early career as a 
reeular officer, for the great commander. Responsibility and neces- 
sity set ablaze the latent genius. Donelson was a flash of daring, 
Vicksburg liis trophy of courage and unalterable determination, 
Petersburg the revelation of his genius. But at Appomattox he was 
Grant the Magnanimous, who spoke for reunion as he had fought 
for union, and turned from grim warrior to the ambassador of peace. 
He could neither hate nor humiliate, and in the very glow of sur- 
passing triumph he could not be ungracious or inconsiderate. 

In that supreme moment of victory, with union saved at unutter- 
able cost, he seems to have surveyed the many disappointments, the 
measureless sacrifices and the indescribable sorrows. He felt the 
assurance of the Xation preserved, and yet the one sweeping utterance 
from his great heart was " Let us have peace." 

Undoubtedly the task of reconstruction was lightened because of 
Grant's moderation. At the height of the struggle he would accept 
the capitulation of Fort Donelson only on conditions of " uncondi- 
tional surrender:" but when the fighting was over, he changed from 
severity to moderation and generosity. In the conclusion of his 
report to the Secretary of War some months after Appomattox, he 
101885— :.'2 (3) 



first paid his tribute to the valor of the armies he had commanded, 
and then concluded with this sentence : 

Let them hope for perpetual peace and harmony with that enemy, whose 
manhood, however mistaken the cause, drew forth such herculean deeds of 
valor. 

I can not but feel that there is for us a lesson in the concluding sen- 
tences of the note in which he proposed to receive the surrender of 
the Army of Northern Virginia. Those sentences read : 

The armies, artillery, and puhlic property to be parked and stacked, and 
turned over to the officer appointed by me to receive them. This will not 
embrace the side arras of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. 
This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to their homes, not 
to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles 
and the laws in force where they may reside. 

To that he added the verbal agreement with General Lee that every 
man of the Confederate Army who claimed to own a horse or mule, 
should be permitted to take the animal home. General Lee observed 
that these conditions would have a happy effect upon his army. 
Within a few hours after the capitulation had been signed, largely 
by reason of the generosity of -its terms, the men of the two armies 
were freely fraternizing, and the captured supply trains of the Con- 
federates had been placed again at their disposal, in order that the 
half-famished soldiers might be properly fed. Describing this inci- 
dent in his memoir. General Grant wrote : 

I said (in talking with General Lee) I took it that most of the men in the 
ranks were small farmers. The whole country had been so raided by the two 
armies that it was doubtful whether they would be able to put in a crop to 
carry themselves and their families throughout the next winter without the 
aid of the horses they were then riding. The United States did not want them, 
and I would, therefore, instruct the officers that I left behind, to receive the 
paroles of his troops, to let every man of the Confederate Army who claimed to 
own a liorse or mule take the animal to liis home. Lee remarked again that this 
would liave a liappy effect. 

In making such conditions, in thus recognizing the vast difficulties 
of consolidating the peace won through years of suffering and priva- 
tion, there spoke the great, true heart of the man who could see into 
the future and realize its problems. 

Many years later, when his life was ebbing, and he struggled to the 
end of his memoirs, all the American people knew of his brave fight, 
and the inevitable outcome, and the man of magnanimity found him- 
self the recipient of a genuinely nation-wide sympathy. His 
acknowledgment in the closing paragraph of his exceptional book 
reveals the soul of a great life. Concerning these kindly expressions 
he Avrote, at the very conclusion of his memoirs : 

I nm not egotist enough to suppose all this significance should be given be- 
cause I was the object of it. But the war between the States was a very bloody 



f 



o 

jiiul a very costly wjir. Oik' si<le or tlic ollior li;ul to yield itriiiciiilcs tlioy 
deemed dearer than life before it could he hrou^ht to an end. I eoniiiianded the 
whole of the mighty host enpigetl on the victorious side. I was, no matter 
v.hether deservetlly so or not. a representative of that side of tlie controversy. 
It is a significant and gratifying fact that Confederates should liave .ioined 
heartily in this siimitaiieous move. I liope the good feeling inaugurated may 
continue to t]i(> end. 

He saw iiiiioii follow (li>unu)n, but it was not hU to li\e to see 
complete concord where discord had flourished. I wisli he some- 
liow ini<j:ht know that in the more than a third of a century since 
his one and only surrender, the indissoluble ties of union have been 
more firmly riveted, and in the shared burdens and triumphs of 
■ American projrress we have indeed continued at peace at home, 
(ireographical sectionalism is only a memoi-y noAv, and Mason and 
Dixon's line remains only a historical record, wdiere an ambifruity in 
the Federal C'onstitution Avas wiped out, and the Nation resumed 
the onward march on its destined Avay. 

Seemino-ly, it was a long time in which to reestablish a concord 
so manifestly essential to the Nation's greater achievements, but the 
understanding of the magnificent Lee was not universal throughout 
the South, the magnanimity of Grant was not manifest throughout 
the North. "Wounds had to be healed, and partisan politics tem- 
porarily profited more in irritation than in healing. But the war 
with Spain consecrated North and South to a common cause, and 
the sacrifice and nation-wide service in the World AVar rexealed 
the common American soul. Grant, the great nationalist, who ap- 
praised union and nationality above! all the frightful cost and suffer- 
ing, would rejoice to acclaim the Kepublic of to-day. 

I do not mean to say that everywhere in our land we are all in 
complete accord about fundamentals of government or the basic 
principles upon which society is founded. But the sectionalism of 
Grant's and Lee's time has been effaced, and the geographical di- 
visions which hindered the formation of the Union, and later threat- 
ened its disruption, have given way to the far less menacing divisions 
which have challenged all civilization, and which make the ferment 
out of which all progress comes. We are to-day incontestably one 
people, with a common purpose, universal pride, nation-wide con- 
fidence, and one flag. The contentions which beset us are not ours 
alone, they are the irritants to civilization throughout the Avorld. 
They are not to be ignored, but they have never halted tlie human 
procession, and Avill not hinder the progress of this firmly founded 
Republic. 

(irant was himself the supreme example of American opportunity. 
Standing before his humble birthplace, amid the surroundings of his 
obscure boyhood life, one doubts if three-quarters of a century ago 



anyone should have sought here for the military chieftain of a 
century. We have not a few, even to-day, who think small-town 
vision to be pitifully circumscribed. And yet this little Clermont 
County furnished in Ulysses S. Grant and Henry C. Corbin two of 
the thirteen lieutenant generals who have been commissioned in all 
our history. 

Grant had even less of likelihood to eminence than his unpromising 
and unprophetic beginning. There was the suggestion of mediocrity 
in his development, and even the steadfastness of his early manhood 
was stamped with failure. But there was the inheritance of quality, 
and he dwelt and grew rugged in the freedom of democracy. 

Even the beckoning opportunity of war left him seemingly un- 
favored by fate. Politically he was out of accord with the Master 
Martyr who became his commander in chief. But he believed in 
Union and the Nation supreme. He brought to the armed service 
preparedness to command, sturdiness of purpose, patience and 
forbearance, great generosity of soul, and a confidence never to be 
shaken. The seizure of opportunity, more to serve than to achieve, 
made him victor, and the quiet man, garbed in failure at Galena, 
marched to the surpassing heights of military glory. All conquering 
in command and magnanimous in his triumph, the world saw the 
soldier and the man, the soldier adored and the man beloved. 

Other military leaders hitherto had mounted to lofty heights in 
the annals of human history. It is useless to compare, but it is be- 
fitting to recall that General Grant was not making conquest of ter- 
ritory or expanding empire. He was only seeking to preserve. He 
did not fight to enslave ; he only battled to sustain Lincoln, whom 
God inspired to bestow freedom. He did not seek to punish or de- 
stroy; he was fighting to save and reunite. In his heart were no 
drastic terms of surrender ; he craved the blessings of peace restored. 
The other day I received a letter from an old gentleman now living 
at Annapolis, Marjdand, Mr. James W. Owens, who at the age of 
eighty-two is still practicing law in Maryland's capital city. He 
related an incident in his own career that was so characteristic of 
General Grant that it was worth repeating. He told me that he was 
a soldier in General Lee's army, surrendered at Appomattox, and 
returned to his home in ^laryland. There he was confronted with 
an order of the Union general commanding the Department of Mary- 
land, Avhich required that all ]-)aroled Confederates should take the 
oath of allegiance. INIr. Owens in his letter to me explained : 

As Dick Taylor and Kirby Smith were still fishtin,?. I ileclined and was put 
in prison, and releast>il on condition that I would leave the State. I went with 
an exiled comrade to see Tioneral Grant. We left a note, explaining our banish- 
ment, and he immediately issued an order saying that in accepting the surrender 



of General Lee he had made it a condition that the paroled men sliotdd letm-n 
to their homes, and there remain as long as they observe<l the conditions im- 
posal. Not designating,' a loyal or disloyal State, General Grant directed that 
the general in command in ilaryland shonld rescind his order. I accordingly 
returned here, and here I am yet, at the age of eighty-two. We veterans of 
the Confederacy have only a feeling of good will for his memory. 

I wonder sometimes if the magnanimity of Grant, the dofrgecl, per- 
sistent, unalterable Grant in warfare— the Unconditional Surrender 
Grant— would not be helpful in the world to-day. The great world 
struggle, which we might reasonably designate the. Civil War of 
western civilization, and in which we so creditably and helpfully 
participated, left peoples and nations prostrate, hardly knowing 
which way to turn for restoration. I can not help but believe that 
something of the spirit with which Grant welcomed victory, some- 
thing of his eagerness to return to peaceful ways, would have speeded 
the restoration and hastened the return to prosperity and happiness, 
without which there can be no abiding peace. He perpetuated no 
resentments of war. Perhaps he felt his own wounds which came 
of calumny, recalled how he was humiliated through misunderstand- 
ing, and menaced by jealousy and hampered by politics. But he 
clung to his vision of union restored, and believed the shortest route 
to peace to be the surest way of lasting triumph. 

Many an incident of the war, many a revelation of his sturdy char- 
acter showed that his face was set on the one supreme achievement — 
union and the preserved ark of the American covenant of liberty. 
No hurting heart, no rivalry, no triumph of other commanders, no 
promotion of the aspiring or deserving, could remove his gaze fi'om 
the great end sought. He wrote Sherman, in Grant-like simplicity 
and sincerity, that he Avould serve under him as willingly as over 
him. to attain preserved union. Out of such consecration, out of 
such unchanging devotion, came his signal victory. 

It is not hard to understand effective endeavor and inspiring lead- 
ership where men are consecrated to service. He was not concerned 
about his individual fortunes, he was battling for the Union. He was 
not seeking self-promotion, he was fighting for the Nation. Rivals 
sought his removal and disgrace, but he kept on fighting. Lincoln 
repulsed his enemies. " I can't spare this man ; he fights," was all 
Lincoln would say. He fought for a preserved Union and restored 
Nation, and succeeding generations are richer because of Iris ex- 
ample. One may guarantee the security of this Republic so long as 
leaders among men put the country's good above personal and politi- 
cal advantage. 

It is not to be said of Grant that he sought to preserve a political 
or social order, or even a government. Avhich had especially favored 



him. He was too little favored by the existing order. Nor can it 
be said that he sought personal or political popularity. These things 
•were apart from his early life. 

It is conceivable that men are prejudiced in their attitude toward 
great problems by their own experiences — more by their disappoint- 
ments than their successes. Grant's own experien<'e in life might 
have led a less deliberate character to welcome an upheaval, or dis- 
union, or any reversal to the government. But this silent man did 
not appraise his country by the scale of his own misfortunes. 

He had seen much of the Republic. In boyhood he drove often to 
Cincinnati and saw the developing city, much as he saw St. Louis 
later on, in his early married life. Between these two periods of 
observation he had graduated from West Point, he had served 
creditably in the Mexican War, and was stationed as a militaiy 
officer on the Pacific coast. 

He saw the westward course of the star of empire. He saw two 
typical American cities grow under the impulse of immigration and 
an expanding Republic. He saw the foreigner come to breathe deeply 
in the atmosphere of American freedom and stand erect amid the 
inspirations of American citizenship. He saw the schooling chil-r 
dren, rollicking in the laughter of youth and freedom and equality, 
garbed in essentially the same raiment, no matter whence they came, 
and walking in the light of the same opportunity. He saw the 
dreams of the founding fathers more than made true. He cherished 
the inheritance which came of their heroism, and he chose to hand 
that inheritance on to his children and his children's children. 

There must have come some such appraisal to this ordinary Ameri- 
can boy when grown to manhood. He had yearned for no star, 
dreamed of no destiny. He merely went the normal way, face ever 
forward, ready to quicken his step when opportunity- called or re- 
sponsibility summoned. Like most men who have left their names 
conspicuous on the rolls of public service, responsibility brought 
forth the greatness of his heart and mind and soul. 

He no more resented criticism than he courted applause. He 
made no outcry against failure, he trusted his own convictions and 
clung to them with a calm fidelity which challenged every crisis. 
His modesty was as notable as his serenity was reassuring. Surely 
in such a breast there was an appraisal of his country, which made 
consciousness of service the compensation for every denial, and a 
healing salve to every hurt. 

We know he wished the Republic to go on. His 20 years of pub- 
lic and private life, following the war, give proof enough. Though 
he proclaimed the doctrine of moral disarmament at Appomattox, 
he believed in a nation equipped for righteous defense. But no 
aggression was in his breast. 



We know his chori^liiiu'iit of peace, inteii.-iilied \>y liis iiitiiiisite 
knowledge of the honors of war. 1 can well believe he would have 
approved all that the Kepublic has so recently done in joining other 
nations in lifting the burdens of armament and promoting under- 
standings which make war less likely. I know he would have a[)- 
proved, because we surrendered no independence, we gave up none 
of nationality for which he fought, but we have furthered the as- 
surances of peace, Avhich was the supreme yearning of his great, 
brave heart. 

It is fifty-seven years since Grant garlanded victory witli mag- 
nanimity. It is thirtj^-seven years since he laid down the wearied 
autobiographer's pen and made his one and only surrender. His 
fame is secure. The Eepublic has not forgotten and wdll not forget. 

What of the Republic itself? It will not be unseemly to say that 
American example and American conception of justice and libert}' 
since then have influenced the world little less significantly than 
Grant's service to the Union shaped the course of our own land. 

A score of new Republics have unfurled their flags, and democracy 
has opened new avenues of libert}'^ and made justice more secure. 
Civilization meanwhile has made such advances that there has seemed 
a divinity pointing the way. And yet that very civilization, more 
advancing than entrenched, was threatened by the World AVar, and 
in war's aftermath established order has been assaulted and revolu- 
tion has threatened throughout the world. In our own land the 
enemies wnthin have been more threatening than those without. 
Greed and anarchy have menaced. But a calm survey gives every 
reassurance. Twenty centuries of modern civilization could not have 
been builded on foundations which are false. A centur}^ and a half 
of gratifying American achievement dates from the sacrifices of the 
founding fathers, and their firm structure was preserved by the 
patriots whom Grant commanded, and will be held secure by the 
patriotic citizenship of the Republic to-day and the grateful Ameri- 
cans of the morrow. 

9 



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